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{{quote|''"Blast off and strike the evil Bydo Empire!"''}}
 
''R-Type'', along with ''[[Gradius]]'', is one of the longest-running, most-heavily ported starfighter-based [[Shoot'Em Up]] series in videogame history. From its initial 1987 incarnation as ''R-Type'' in the arcades and on 8-bit computers, ported to the 16-bit era and forward, and eventually reaching a final episode in ''R-Type Final'' for the [[Play StationPlayStation 2]]. However, [[Gaiden Game|Gaiden Games]] are still in development for the newest systems, so the series doesn't seem to actually be dead yet.
 
The backstory, such as it is, is fairly minimal -- humanity banishes a hideous bioweapon (the Bydo) into a [[Phantom Zone]], which then goes back in time and attacks humanity several hundred years earlier. The R-Type series of fighters are developed as quickly as possible to fight back the threat, using the ''Force Device'', a piece of [[Organic Technology]] which uses a contained larval Bydo to produce an indestructible (but not impenetrable) energy field.
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==''R-Type Final'' (2003)==
 
''Final'', on the [[Play StationPlayStation 2]], was intended to be the big finale to the series (as indicated by its name), and, as such, the developers went all-out in one department: the available ships. Taking the "multiple fighters" idea from ''Delta'' and running with it, there are ''101 ships'' to unlock and use in battle, including every ship seen thus far, as well as scouts, [[Transforming Mecha]], [[Living Ship|Living Ships]], and a flying ''tank'', along with several dozen Forces, Wave Cannons, Bits, and Missiles. Before you get too excited, keep in mind that many of these are not unique; most are simply more powerful versions of others, and many had little quirks or gimmicks that made them difficult to use effectively (such as the infamous [[Joke Character|B-3A series]], also known as the "Misty Lady" series, which had weapons that only fired ''down''. It's as annoying as it sounds). The actual gameplay is considered a step down from ''Delta'', with stages that weren't quite as imaginative as ''Delta's'', although the story did branch a couple of times for variety.
 
While the individual ship descriptions offered a surprising amount of backstory, the in-game plot itself is even more minimal; no dates are given, making tracing the time passed extremely difficult; the Engligh-language manual states that ''Final'' takes place 500 years after the first few games, [[Lost in Translation|while the Japanese manual states that it's only been 20 years]] and the entire game is implied to encompass the years in-between all the previous games. Either way, the story starts when a space station gets infected and falls to Earth. The first few missions are spent cleaning up the Bydo that survived the fall before heading out into their dimension (again) and attacking the source of all Bydo (again). This time, however, it is implied that humanity actually found the correct "source" and defeated the Bydo for good. There are [[Multiple Endings]].
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As well as these, there were two compilations released -- ''R-Types'' for the [[Play StationPlayStation]] and ''R-Type DX'' for the [[Game Boy Color]]. Both contained versions of ''R-Type'' and ''R-Type II'', and both were published in 1999 in the US, with earlier and later releases elsewhere. ''R-Type Dimensions'' is an [[Xbox Live Arcade]] port of ''R-Type'' and ''R-Type II'' with remade graphics and a few new features. The original arcade versions are also available.
The [[Wii]]'s [[Virtual Console]] also had the [[Turbo Grafx TurboGrafx-16]] release of the original ''R-Type'' available beginning from December 25th, 2006, although the game was delisted on March 30th, 2012.
 
Copying ''R-Type'' was quite the thing for a long time, to the point that Irem ended up suing a company called Factor 5 for making ''Katakis''.
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